Murfreesboro Police Chief Karl Durr met Monday evening with a group of pastors who’ve expressed concern about the arrest of 10 schoolchildren at Hobgood Elementary School, but the intention of the meeting was to address far more than that.

The meeting between about two dozen community members and the police department began at about 6 p.m. at First Baptist Church on East Castle.

“It was about how do we bring our community together and how to make it possible,” said the Rev. Carl Marable as pastors were leaving more than two hours later. “We want to work on those issues as well. It was more of a spiritual situation here than anything else.”

Marable said there were many positive points in the meeting. He said the meeting “was not about name-calling or finger-pointing.”

Marable stressed that Murfreesboro didn’t need to be seen on the world news about issues like this. Marable also denied a “disconnect” between the police and the community.